We live between two worlds, two cities, and two conceptions of reality. We have the city of the world under the domain of darkness and the evil one, and we have the city of God under the domain of light and of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians, we hold citizenships in both realms; in the city of this world, a temporal place where the Lord allows evil to persist, and in the City of God, the eternal realm promised to those in Christ. We wrestle with our relationship between them, and primarily, how we engage in this earthly city.
How then shall we live between these two cities? We live in the earthly city by setting our hearts on the heavenly, recognizing that this place isn’t our home but in the city where our Lord dwells. Nonetheless, as citizens of these two realms, we have the responsibility to seek the well-being of our earthly dwelling. We don’t separate ourselves physically from this world, but rather, while we maintain our citizenship on earth, we bring the heavenly down here.
Michael Horton writes:
The reformers avoided [two] tendencies: on the one hand, to confuse the two kingdoms (Rome) and, on the other, to divorce the two kingdoms and reject any Christian involvement in the kingdom of culture (Anabaptists). Instead, they insisted that Christians should be involved in the world. They should neither seek to escape it, like the monks, whose lives were often more "worldly" than the world, nor seek to rule it, like the popes, whose own houses were not quite in order. Every believer is a "priest" before God, and each person (believer and unbeliever) has been given a vocation or calling, by virtue of creation, to participate in some way in culture. We are social beings, created to enjoy each other's company, whether Christian or non-Christian. Redemption does not change our participation in culture; rather, it changes us and, therefore, the character of our involvement. Separation from the world is not physical, according to the reformers; rather, it is a matter of divorcing our dependence on the things of this world: its vanity and rejection or perversion of things heavenly. Luther and Calvin said that the calling of the magistrate or public official was "one of the noblest" (Calvin), inasmuch as it serves the society so well.
Christians must engage culture and politics around them. Moreover, for the American Christian, we have the political opportunity to do so. Our founding fathers didn’t permit the doctrine of separation of church and state as articulated by most leftists of our age, rather they allowed the citizenry with their religious beliefs to engage the culture and politics around them. As American Christians we have three main ways we can engage the culture and politics around us while maintaining our dual citizenship.
1. Faithful and Godly Engagement
We are capable of engaging the culture and politics around us for significant change. However, we must not become reactionaries in our time marked by cultural upheaval and ideological confusion. When the left makes their absurd claims (i.e., transgender ideology, postmodern feminism, socialism, etc.), we don’t meet them with rational counterpoints paired with combative or fear-driven rhetoric. We meet them with Christian charity, clarity, and confidence. That’s not to say that we can’t call out their deeply flawed claims and call them what they are: false and harmful. However, we should never allow ourselves to misrepresent their arguments nor neglect their humanity in our public discourse.
How do we conduct ourselves in our civic engagement? Well, we have meaningful Christian liberty in our paths as we engage culture and politics. Some Christians will run for political office, some will partner with organizations to get involved, while many others will be godly Christians in their communities and will carry out their responsibility of voting in elections. However, what doesn’t change is our demeanor toward others while we engage the culture around us. We must display the fruit of the Spirit—“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). Our posture must match our profession. So in whatever way the Lord has gifted you, and whatever form your civic engagement takes, it must be faithful, charitable, and distinctly Christian.
2. Social Witness
In the early church, Christians were known to help the most vulnerable: orphans, widows, the poor, and the disabled. I do think it is fair to say that we are lacking as Evangelicals compared to the early church. Now, we shouldn’t respond like the democratic candidate for US Senate from Texas, James Talarico deposits. Government programs have two main issues. First, they are ineffective and expensive. There are serious cost factors of having a broad welfare state and universal healthcare. Additionally, we know the ineffectiveness of these programs, whether from the fraud uncovered recently in Maine and Minnesota, or the welfare munchers who never get off governmental assistance, governmental programs prove to be ineffective. Second, government programs make the state a savior, a role that can only be filled by our Creator. When the state is seen as responsible for meeting the needs of the disadvantaged, it displaces the personal obligation for meeting the needs of others in their community. When charity becomes bureaucratic, compassion becomes impersonal, and responsibility is outsourced to governmental systems rather than embodied people.
If we shouldn’t support widespread governmental assistance programs, then how can we have a faithful social witness in society and culture? Since evangelicals are falling short today, the answer is not a larger welfare state, but a more faithful church. The solution is renewed Christian commitment to voluntary charity, local institutions, churches, and families taking responsibility for those in their community. Christians should prioritize their proximity over social policies and personal responsibility over political rhetoric with rose-colored glasses. A faithful evangelical social witness today looks like churches reclaiming diaconal ministries, by Christians opening their homes and wallets, and establishing local networks where we can meet people’s physical and spiritual needs.
3. Christ over Chaos
In the midst of a political hysteria, we must be rooted in the foundation of Christ and His promises, rather than being swept up in the anxieties of this world. Our age is marked by constant outrage, harmful rhetoric, and the belief that every election represents the battle of Armageddon between good and evil. When our politics becomes the primary source of hope and dread, they assume a weight it was never meant to carry. Every political party, platform, and candidate is flawed and temporary, yet Christ is eternal and remains on His throne. The promises of Christ for us do not change despite political turmoil. We know that Christ reigns regardless of who holds an office in our land.
Being rooted in Christ does not mean political apathy. It means refusing panic, rejecting hysteria, and engaging in public life with clarity and restraint with conviction. We must pursue justice, advocate for the truth, and engage in the culture and politics around us. However, our confidence is not in our politicians and political parties but in the sovereignty of Christ. In our age, addicted to outrage and unfruitful discourse, we must remain calm and collected in our countercultural witness through testifying that our ultimate allegiance is not to a party or a political ideology, but to Christ and His Kingdom.
